1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a high speed oil spill response vessel adapted to transfer recovered oil or similar liquids from a recovery or skimmer vessel to a storage vessel or shore based facility to minimize the delay in oil spill recovery operations resulting from low storage capacity recovery vessels.
2. Background
The continued development of equipment and facilities for the recovery of crude oil and similar liquids from marine oil spills has brought the realization that one factor which delays the recovery operations is the limited storage capacity of most types of available oil skimming or recovery vessels. The skimming and recovery vessels which have proven to be most attractive for use in recovery of oil in remote locations are those which may be rapidly transported by air or surface means to the site of the spill. Such recovery vessels are necessarily limited in their oil storage capacity since, once the recovery vessel's storage tanks are full, the recovery vessel must be taken out of service and transit to a storage ship or shore based storage facility.
The cost of providing large capacity oil recovery and storage ships, such as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/798,469, filed Nov. 26, 1991, in the name of John L. Sullivan et al and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, makes it practical to base such ships only in areas where a high probability of a spill occurrence exists. Such ships are also limited to relatively deep water and open sea recovery operations. In all events, since a ship of the type described in the aforementioned patent application may also be used in regular liquids transport service, initial efforts to contain or recover spilled oil may also require the use of a number of small recovery and lightering vessels which are capable of working in shallow and relatively inaccessible waters and are easily transportable to the site of the spill until the vessel of opportunity has discharged its load and transited to the site of the spill.
Accordingly, there has developed an acute need for a type of vessel which is capable of repeated high speed transfer of recovered oil from limited capacity recovery or skimmer vessels to a storage vessel or shore based storage facility and return to the site of the spill to take on another load of recovered oil. Such a vessel should also advantageously include features such as fuel and water storage for replenishing supplies of same on the skimmer vessels, the ability to pick up and store debris and the ability to carry and facilitate exchange of skimmer crew. The present invention is directed to such a transfer vessel or lighter which has several unique features as will be described further herein.